Response to an artist #2

Linda Bergkvist was born on September 5th, 1977 in Umeå, Sweden. She is an extremely talented illustrator and digital fantasy artist. Known as Enayla on several online art communities, Bergkvist is drawn towards illustrating dark fairy tales, focusing on the unnatural and the unreal. 

Bergkvist won two master awards in Ballistic Publishing's book "Exposé I", then co-authored "d'artiste: Digital Painting" with three other leading artists. She has been planning a dark fairy tales book that will feature her paintings, but has not yet announced when the book will be finished. 

I love the visual element of her fairy tales. How she includes images that are fantastical and unnatural and not quite real fascinates me to no end. She seems to revolve around old, cruel tales and the how wickedness comes wrapped up in lovely forms. I suppose, in a way, Linda mixes fantasy and horror with a little twinge of romantic idealization. Her digital art is absolutely flawless, not to mention extremely beautiful. I can honestly say that I am truly inspired by her work. 

Career I love #2 - Animator

An animator, as we all know, is an artist who creates multiple images that give an

illusion of movement when displayed in rapid sequence.

Salary - The median expected salary for a typical animator in the United States as of right now is $46,825. But it really all depends on who you’re working for. Disney animators make twice as much, for example, topping at around $160,000. 

Education - Aside from talent, an animator's skills can be improved vastly by college and university training, such as the Bachelor of Arts degree in Animation, which provides academic and hands-on learning experiences. Associate degrees and certificates in animation also are available from professional schools (2 or 3 years in duration). But it really comes down to how good you are at it. The more credibility you have, the more likely you are to get a better job offer. 

Variations on the job - Animators can work in a variety of fields including film (which I like the most), television, video games, and the all mighty internet. Some artists contribute to animated cartoons, but they technically aren’t animators. They include layout artists, storyboard artists, and background artists. Still very important, but not quite at the tip top.

Expenses - Besides paying for school, there really aren’t a whole lot of personal expenses. Your employer will have everything necessary for you to complete your work. 

I’m not a fan of all types of animation, unfortunately. Newer TV shows that my little sister watches such as “Adventure Time” and “Regular Show”... well, they’re just not my cup of tea. I’m a big fan of claymation though, and it’s practically the best thing ever. Tim Burton & Henry Selick films, for example. I am a huge gigantic monstrous fan of them. Not all of them are directly set on claymation, but even the ones with human actors have some form of claymation in them. Some favorites of mine include: 

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Corpse Bride

And lastly, James and the Giant Peach

(Which is one of my favorite movies of all time)

Modern Day Magic - The Work of Alexander Wells

Contemporary art, huzzah!

Alexander Wells is a 29 year old illustrator trying to make a living in the sea side town of Brighton, England. Apparently he's also a model, but we won't get into that.

Alexander attended the University of Westminster in London, and uses both traditional and digital mediums in creating images, which allows him to tackle a diverse range of briefs. 

His work seems to express the concept of imagination, and some of his work illustrates modern twists on well-known fairy tales.

Aren't they wonderful?

I think so too.

I'm really quite fond of the way Wells seems to block out reality in order to express a more imaginative side. He tends to stick to darker colors, hues, and values, but I think that works because it shows how boring reality actually is. His lines are always very smooth and they flow freely because there's almost always something "moving" in his art, such as the wind blowing a grassy meadow, or the waves in an ocean. The proportions seem to be odd in his work, but it fits perfectly. The biggest and most prominent parts of his work are often the things that he is trying to distort in some way, shape, or form. The second to last image, for example. A ship in the bottle is obviously not that large, but it makes you think about the inner workings of the mind & how people perceive things. There is most definitely contrast in his work, not only in color, but also in images. Take a look at the second piece. Black and white contrast, of course, but the actual piece as a whole does as well. Something incredibly small, joyful, and "safe" is flying around space, of of the most terrifying and unknown places known to man. You don't see that everyday.

Overall, I think Alexander Wells is a very promising artist. I can say without a doubt that I have fallen in love with his work, ideas, & style of art, and I look forward to more of him in the future. 

(Also, there's actually a blog right here dedicated to Wells and his work. Go look at it now.)
http://wellsillustration.blogspot.com/

Louis Wain

Louis Wain was an average man born in gloomy London on August 5th, 1860. He was an English artist best known for his drawings, which consistently featured anthropomorphized large-eyed cats and kittens.

Louis spent much of his childhood wandering around London. At the age of 18, Louis studied at the West London School of Art and eventually became a teacher there for a short period. At the age of 20, Wain was left to support his mother and sisters after his father's death.

In 1886, Wain's first drawing of anthropomorphized cats was published in the Christmas issue of the Illustrated London News, titled A Kitten's Christmas Party. 

Wain was a very well known artist over the next thirty years, sometimes producing as many as several hundred drawings a year. He illustrated about one hundred children's books, and his work appeared in papers, journals, and magazines, including the Louis Wain Annual, which ran from 1901 to 1915. 

Around 1908, Wain's popularity began to decline. His mental instability also began around this time, and increased gradually over the years. He had always been considered quite charming but odd, and often had difficulty in distinguishing between fact and fantasy. Others frequently found him incomprehensible, due to his way of speaking tangentially. His behavior and personality changed, and he began to suffer from delusions, with the onset of schizophrenia. When in the past he had been a mild-mannered and trusting man, he became hostile and suspicious, particularly towards his sisters. He claimed that the flickering of the cinema screen had robbed the electricity from their brains. He began wandering the streets at night, rearranging furniture within the house, and spent long periods locked in his room writing incoherently.

When his sisters could no longer cope with his erratic and occasionally violent behavior, he was finally committed in 1924 to a pauper ward of Springfield Mental Hospital in Tooting. This hospital was relatively pleasant, with a garden and colony of cats, and he spent his final 15 years there in peace. While he became increasingly deluded, his erratic mood swings subsided, and he continued drawing pieces of art full of bright colors, sharp lines, and abstract patterns for pleasure. 

Here are a few examples of Louis Wain's art. As you can tell, they become more and more abstract as his illness progressed over time. You can view more of Wain's art here.

 

 

 

 

Interesting, no? 

Art Historian? I think not.

Art historians study objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts. For example; genre, design, format, & style. 


Salary - Art history majors have a median starting salary of $35,800. It's bumped up to about $64,900 around 10 years after graduation.
Training/Education - It really depends. Some may be required to have mechanical skills, while others need specialized training in conservation techniques.
Variations - There are several different levels of art history. Some study the "major" arts of painting, sculpture, architecture, etc., while others study the "minor" arts of ceramics, furniture, and other decorative objects.
Start up expenses - Start up costs are usually around $15,000.
Portfolio - Varies. Some colleges do not require one, while others want one including design, photography, painting drawing, printmaking, etc. 


In my opinion, this job would bore me down to the bone. Just researching it almost made me fall asleep. It seems to be a long, discouraging path with no guaranteed job prospects at the end of it. I read a few surveys answered by art history students, and it really doesn't seem worth the trouble. A few people said that "unless you are very dedicated to the field and can think of nothing else you would like to do, don't go to graduate school for this. It is a long road with little to encourage you and you can get frustrated and disillusioned during the process." Yeah, no thank you. I'll pass.